Leaf-blowers should be banned.

[Sannum]

I am sorry, nobody was ever disturbed by a rake.

What amazes me are these suburban asshats who insist on doing their yard at about 7:00 on a saturday morning. Bastards.

[ret5hd]

1. and then they'll jump in their ford excretion...i mean expedition...

and drive 12 blocks to go tho the gym cause they're too fat.

[ProfessorGAC]

2. When You Have MS, Let Me Know. . .

. . .how you feel about powered lawn tools.
The Professor

[Pert_UK]

34. What - MS makes you use power tools at 7am on Saturday?

I had no idea.

Come off it - this rant was clearly aimed at people who use powered lawn tools with no regard for other people. Why bring MS into it?

[ProfessorGAC]

35. Because The Thread Was Headed Toward A Condemnation. . .

. . .of people who use them. I have no choice. I cannot manage my yard without the use of power lawn tools. I can't.

I think it was not as clearly aimed at people using them at 7am as you suggest. Look at the original title.
The Professor

[benburch]

3. I think gas power mowers should be banned too.

Electric or manual reel mowers ONLY.

[benburch]

5. Oh, and...

Electric blowers are nowhere NEAR as loud.

[miss_kitty]

25. or as effective.

:D

[One_Life_To_Give]

9. How many acres

will you mow with a push reel?

[benburch]

14. I've done a whole acre that way.

Which is MUCH bigger than the average lawn in my town.

But I think that it would limit the size of the lawn the average person would care to maintain. And the areas that would be allowed to grow wild would be great for local wildlife!

[One_Life_To_Give]

18. Guess you don't have 5 acre min. buiding lots

It all depends on where one lives.

[benburch]

41. Let four acres be a restored local habitat garden, then.

Five acres of lawn is too much, bad for the planet, and conspicuous consumption at its worst.

And if you really want that much lawn, hire local youth to push the reel mowers.

[Shell Beau]

31. But my husband, who is a landscaper, doesn't

always have electricity near by.

[benburch]

42. There are always exceptions...

But I wager that a gas generator is MUCH less loud than the gas mower or the gas blower; They are designed for 24/7 use in residential blackouts, after all, and have to be well muffled.

[Shell Beau]

46. Well I am sure they do what is most cost efficient for their company!

I am not sure what that would be for them though!

[yellowdogintexas]

50. I love my little old electric lawn mower, although it is getting old

and I am too so thinking of replacing it with a self propelled electric mower..my arthritic wrists really suffer from driving the lawn mower.

[SmokingJacket]

4. If you tried playing rock music at the same volume

as the leaf blower at 7 am, the cops would be called!

I never understood why lawn maintainance is a legitimate reason to disturb the peace.

[xchrom]

6. i'm with you.

my condo has the SMALLEST public outdoor space -- and they really need nothing more than a broom and a rake for it.

it's soo annoying -- and talk about stinky, feh.

[LynneSin]

7. people who want to use leafblowers should be neutered

so their seed isn't propagated into future generations

[brainshrub]

8. I agree.

A rake or broom takes just as much time.

I hate Summers because I can't relax in my own back-yard due to the racket from my neighbors damn leaf-blower.

Lawn-mowers are bad, but they make a consistant sound that you can nap-through. A leaf blower has no pattern. It's: RRRRRRRRR .... RRRRR ... RR .. RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR ... RRRRR ..... (total silence for a few minutes when the engine stalls) RRRRRRRRRRRRR ... RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

I hate them, hate them, hate them.

[benburch]

11. Electrics are not near as evil!

They just have a rushing roar and a high whine. From a distance not much worse than Cicadas.

[brainshrub]

17. Yup. Electric weed-wackers are okay.

I use a push-mower and an electric weed-wacker. My yard is bigger than most of my neighbors, but I still get everything done faster than the guys with a Lawn-SUV.

The one major perk of the Peak Oil crisis is that Summer-times will be quiet again.

[One_Life_To_Give]

22. I'm too lazy to drag the 300' extension cord

I use the gas trimmer for all the stuff the 38in deck won't do. And my yard isn't more than 5000 sq.ft. bigger than my neighbors. Does this make me a bad person?

[brainshrub]

29. It depends.

Do you use it your trimmer before 10am or after 6pm? Do you feel the need to use it 4 times a week? When you see your neighbor trying to take a nap in his back yard, do you still decide to go ahead with the lawn chores, even though your @#$%ing swimming-pool is green and you could do that for an hour while I enjoy my nap.

*ahem*

Sorry. I was projecting my anger.

[benburch]

43. I have done a whole (small) lawn with just the weed wacker.

I have an electric I won as a picnic door prize 25 years ago and it still does its thing.

[DS1]

10. I agree, on the campus I work on, the idiot morons run the leafblowers

all day every Thursday, and when they're done pushing the leaves around instead of picking them up, they 'leafblow' the roads and sidewalks.

Ignorant bastards.

[Merlot]

12. Where do the leaves go?

Do they ever get picked up, or are they just forever being blowen from place to place until they disentigrate?

[LostinVA]

13. I use mine as a leaf-sucker/mulcher

And it's GREAT. I have a huge area that gets full of leaves year round. I literally don't have the time to rake it, then waste a zillion leaf bag. I can't afford a huge mulcher. Plus, I have a bad back, I'm a small female, and I don't have anyone else to help. This way, I can make my yard not be an eyesore, make my own mulch, and save my back.

I use a rake for the areas of the yard that aren't literally covered 4-5" deep in copperhead infested leaves. Yet another reason the leaf sucker is great.

And I don't use it until after 10:00. Our HOA doesn't allow it.

And, I'm not fat. And, I exercise every day.

on edit: Mine is electric, and is not horribly loud. As is my weed whacker.

[crispini]

27. That's what I do.

Blow 'em into a pile and then suck 'em up and take 'em to the compost heap. In the fall, it's SOOOOO necessary. Mine's electric, too.

And I use a manual push mower. Zero emissions, zero environmental impact! :)

[LostinVA]

30. We're yardwork twins!

I have, literally, about 40 trees on .34 acre, and both neighbors have them, too. Huge oaks, etc. It's crazy!

Do you spend about two hours every Saturday pulling up ivy? Ivy that never, ever really goes away? Supernatural ivy that ALWAYS reappears?

[xultar]

39. Yardwork Twins UNITE! ( from the WonderTwins back in the day)

[crispini]

44. I have ivy, but I only have to go after it

about once or twice a year, when it starts invading the house. Why is it that I have never been able to keep an ivy houseplant alive, but the ivy outside is green and thriving? :shrug:

[benburch]

45. Take a cutting of THAT ivy!

It obviously likes your climate.

[One_Life_To_Give]

15. Sun's up long before 7

Whats wrong with 7 in the mid morning? You already had pleanty of time to milk the cow's, get your breakfast etc.

[Lars39]

16. They are serious noise pollution.

In the fall, my neighbor literally runs around on his roof at 7am to blow the leaves out of his gutters.

[MN ChimpH8R]

19. I respectfully dissent

I have a small yard with only two trees, but it is surrounded by ten mammoth oaks on my neighbors' properties. Guess where those oaks' leaves fall. Much of my lot is covered with blacktop driveway and landscaping stone - not suitable for raking. Using a leaf blower (in the middle of the day), it takes me two to four full afternoons to blow the leaves into piles that can be bagged. I bagged over 70 bags of leaves last fall. Without a blower this would be a multi-week project.

What is needed is some courtesy by blower users. I try to oblige. And have you ever heard a rake rasping over a blacktop driveway? Worse than fingernails on a blackboard and much worse than a leaf blower.

[LostinVA]

24. Agreed. See my post #13 n/t

[brainshrub]

26. I see your point, but there should be some standards.

I have a friend who lives next to several houses with fairly large lawns. Most Summer evenings it sounds like a factory with all the racket from the lawn-SUVs, leaf-blowers, weed-whackers and hand pruners. It drives her crazy.

She works hard all day. She bought the house in the country so she could watch the sun set from the porch and relax with a beer. The noise from all the engines drowns out most of the nature sounds she wanted.

I live in a densly-populated area, but I swear to god, her neighborhood is noisier than mine on Summer evenings and weekends.

[LostinVA]

28. I do have standards

Just some posters are making blanket statements that leaf blower users are: lazy, drive SUVs, don't want to do yardwork, and use leaf blowers at 7:00 am. I use an electric blower/vacuum/mulcher, run every day no matter the weather, use my blower between 10 am-4pm, am buying a Hybrid next week, and work out in my yard constantly, unless the temp is over 95 degrees.

Not attacking you personally. It's just annoying to be accused of being an inconsiderate, gas-guzzling, lazy neighbor.

[Shell Beau]

20. Where I live , you either do it pretty early or later

in the evening b/c it is seriously too hot in the day!

[newsguyatl]

21. the absolute most

annoying sound in the world!

agree 100%!!!!!!

[bertha katzenengel]

23. Rakes and brooms? Why, you don't expect people to WORK to

clear their yards, do you?

And all those landscaping businesses would have to hire more people because manual labor really takes it outta you. It's easier to buy leaf blowers than it is to employ people.

[miss_kitty]

32. Leaf-blowers should be banned from being used by the untrained

they are really effective when used properly. And so are gas powered lawn mowers and two stroke string trimmers. And two stroke hedge shears. The electric weed wackers are no match for any growth that is hardened off. I have never used an electric mower, but I've seen the results and Oy!

I do agree that shit should not be used early in the day, late at night or on Sundays. And not during the neighbours' outdoor parties. It should also not be used by any Tom, Dick, or Harry.

And no one should use the shit anywhere NEAR DS1.

Now I will don my flame retardant suit and get some popcorn:popcorn:

[xultar]

33. So should edgers, power washers, mowers, cars, trucks, planes,

boats, scooters, fans, the whole lot!

[ProfessorGAC]

36. Ah. The Ultimate Return To The PreAgrarian Age

Now, that's committment!
The Professor

[Mutley]

37. I don't think motorized lawn equipment should be banned.

I just think people should have the courtesy to wait until after 9am to use them.

[Strawman]

38. Yeah. Damn hockey groupies hanging outside the Air Canada Centre

[HEyHEY]

49. he hehe he

[alarimer]

40. I hear you

I was awoken at 7 am on a SATURDAY by workers installing new siding on my apartment building once. Why the hell they couldn't have done it later or during the week is beyond. I complained loudly to no avail. The company was using (apparently) migrant labor to do this- working them at least 10 hours a day, seven days a week too. So it wasn't the workers' fault; it was the assholes who hired them.

[XemaSab]

47. Amen to that!

A rake and a push mower should be good enough for 95% of all lawns.

As someone with asthma, leaf blowers are so terrible for the air quality, both in terms of the incomplete combustion and blowing fine particles into the air. Also, I hate loud noises, and it's just noise pollution. Someone above made the analogy that playing loud rock music at 7 AM isn't ok, so why should leaf blowers be? I'll take that analogy further and say that I don't want to hear loud rock music coming from the neighbor's house EVER. I'll put up with it if they're having a party with a band or something, but all the time ain't ok. It's just inconsiderate.

It's pure selfishness, both from the noise standpoint and the air quality standpoint.

Not to mention the fact that these people frequently blow their leaves onto other people's lawns.

Just rude.

[HEyHEY]

48. I think people whinning about noise should be banned

Life's not perfect... sometimes there is noise. :P

[yellowdogintexas]

51. Just mow the leaves with the lawnmower and a grass catcher

bag. Dump the bag into the compost heap. No raking.

What the leaf blower is best for is getting to the leaves that get all stuck around where you can't really get them with the rake anyway. Suck and mulch, dump on the compost. At the end of the fall leaf season, we have a pretty damn big compost heap. Then the compost goes to the flower beds.

but 7 in the morning is just mean, even if it is just a weed eater.

[BrewerJohn]

52. You'd have to work pretty hard to get me out of bed before 9

on a Saturday, so I'm not one of the suspects in this case.

But anyway, I have an electric reversible blower and a cordless electric mower. Both do the job to my satisfaction and most importantly do not make so much damned noise as their infernal combustion counterparts. I don't want to listen to that din either; having to do the work is bad enough. As it is I'd go nuts without my wireless headphones. Listening to prog-rock classics or AAR makes the time go so much better.

And when I get the photovoltaic array installed on the roof (always next year), I should be set.

[nookiemonster]

53. Oh screw that!

I'll be out there a 5 in the morning with my turbo diesel leafblower. Ya know the kind with the big ass exhaust with the little thingamajig on top that flaps up and down.

RRRRRRRMMMRMRMRMRMMRRMRMRMMMMRMMMMRMMMM

LOL!
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